9oe 

WIL 

Sixth  Annual  Reunion  of  the  Will  County 
—  (111.)  Pioneer  Assoc' n,  Sept.  1,  1886~ 


-*• 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

906WIL1886  C001 

SIXTH  ANNUAL  REUNION  OF  THE  WILL  COUNTY 


3  0112  025261980 


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SIXTH  ANNUAL  REUNION 


■)  OF  (- 


Tie  Will  County  Pioneer  Association, 


SEPTEMBER   1,   1880. 


BEING  THE 


SE3^I-CBIsrTB2sriSriJL 


I—I 


OF  THE 


Organization  of  Will  County, 


1836-1886. 


JOLIET  : 

The  Pee88  Coadpany,  Printers. 

1886. 


SIXTH  ANNUAL  REUNION 

—  i  of  i 

Ttie  fill  County  Pioneer  Association, 

SEPTEMBER  1,  1886. 

BEING  THE 
OF  THE 

Organization  of  Will  County, 


1B3S--1SSS. 


.IOLIET  : 

The  Press  Company,  Printers. 

1886. 


WILL  COUNTY  SEMI-CENTENNIAL. 


Addresses  of  Geo.  H.  Woodruff  and  Judge   G.  D.  A.  Parks,   deliv- 
ered before  the  Will   County    Pioneer  Association,  Wed- 
nesday,  Sept.    1st,  1886,  with    poem   by  Capt. 
Egbert   Phelps  and  A.  F.  Kercheval. 


NECROLOGY,  GREETINGS  AND  REGRETS. 


At  the  sixth  annual  reunion  of  the  Will 
County  Pioneer  Association  held  Wednesday, 
Sept.  1st,  the  venerable  and  respected  presi 
dent,  Geo.  H.  Woodruff,  delivered  the  open- 
ing address,  which  was  so  absorbingly  inter- 
esting, so  replete  with  facts  and  statistics  in 
connection  with  the  early  history  of  our 
county  that  we  give  it  in  full.  Its  effect  upon 
the  assembled  representatives  of  four  genera- 
tions, and  especially  upon  the  older  ones 
whose  memory  runs  back  to  the  events  de- 
tailed, was  like  a  Pentacostal  pouring  out 
upon  them  of  the  spirit  of  youth. 

PRESIDENT  WOODRUFF'S  ADDRESS. 

Fellow  Pioneers — Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

That  must  have  been  a  sober  day  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  100th  regiment  when,  after  its 
baptismal  tight  of  three  days  at  Stone  river, 
it  was  mustered  on  the  fourth  day  of  January, 
1863,  for  roll  call,  and  Lieutenants  Worthing- 
ham  and  Mitchell,  and  Privates  Theill,  Hop- 
kins, Rham,  Hess,  Greemnan,  Atkins  and 
Wagner,  killed  on  the  field,  and  many  others 
wounded  and  in  hospital,  failed  to  answer  to 
their  names. 

Not  altogether  unlike  the  sad  feelings  of 
those  survivors,  as  they  closed  up  their  deple- 
ted ranks,  have  been  ours  to-day,  as  we  have 
listened  to  the  names  of  those  pioneers  who 
have  died  since  our  last  meeting,  and  as,  dur- 
ing our  hour  of  social  interchange,  we  have 
learned  of  this  one,  and  that  one,  who  have 
been  prevented  from  meeting  with  us  by  the 
infirmities  of  age. 

I  trust  a  feeling  of  gratitude  to  Almighty 
God,  for  the  life  and  strength  still  vochsafed 
us,  has  not  been  wanting  in  our  hearts. 

On  several  of  our  previous  gathering  we 
have  found  ourselves  keeping  a  semi-centen- 
nial. In  1881  we  commemorated  the  first  set- 
tlement of  this  region,  which  practically  be- 
gan in  1830-31,  altho'  Father  Walker's  mission 
dates  a  few  years  earlier. 

In  1882  we  kept  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  and  we  met  on  the  2nd  day 
of  August,  the  date  of  the  late  hostile  encoun- 
ter with  the  Indian,  on  this  side  of  the  .Miss 
issippi. 

In  1883  we  took  note  of  the  first  stroke  of 
enterprise  in  the  Desplaines'  valley,  the  com- 
mencement of  the  old  McKee  mill    and  dam 


by  the  pioneer  Charles  Reed,  and  in  1S84  we 
observed  the  semi-centennial  of  the  city  of 
Joliet. 

This  year  we  are  called  upon  to  observe  one 
more  of  these  memorable  periods  in  our  his- 
tory, that  of  the  organization  of  Will  county 
which  occurred  just  fifty  years  ago.  Some 
brief  historical  notes  of  this  event  are  there- 
fore in  order. 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  story  has  been 
told  several  times  before, and  that  thetedious- 
ness  of  a  "thrice-told  tale'1  has  passed  into  a 
proverb.  But  I  am  obliged  to  bore  you  yet 
once  again,  and  I  assure  you  that  you  cannot 
feel  the  tedium  of  this  repetition  any  more 
than  I  do.  I  suggest  that  there  is  one  way 
you  can  avoid  similar  inflictions  in  the  future. 
This  can  be  done  by  retiring  your  president 
on  half-pay,  which  I  most  seriously  ask  you 
to  do  to-day. 

The  emigration  into  this  region  after  the 
Black  Hawk  war  was  so  rapid  that  the  people 
began  to  agitate  the  matter  of  a  seperation 
from  Cook  county  early  in  1835.  It  was 
felt  to  be  too  great  an  inconvenience  to  be  ob- 
liged to  go  to  Chicago— then  an  all-day's  jour- 
ney— whenever  we  wished  to  indulge  in  the 
luxury  of  a  big  law  suit,  or  of  getting  marri- 
ed or  divorced. 

Accordingly,  in  the  wintei  of  is:;5-<j  Dr. 
A.  W.  Bowen  of  Joliet,  and  James  Walker  of 
Plainfield,  went  to  Vandalia,  then  the  capital 
of  the  state  for  the  purpose  of  lobbying  the 
project  through  the  general  assembly.  They 
were  successful,  and  on  the  1~  day  of  January 
1836,  an  act  was  passed, by  which  the  territory 
now  included  in  Will  county,  and  also  all 
that  part  of  Kankakee  county  lying  north  of 
the  Kankakee  river,  was  erected  into  a  new 
county,  to  be  known  as  the  County  of  Will. 
This  name  was  given  to  it,  not  because  we 
were  especially  a  wilful  people,  but  because  a 
senator  of  that  name  had  just  died,  whose 
memory  they  could  in  this  cheap  way  make 
immortal. 

By  this  act  Joliet  was  made  the  county  seat 
and  the  public  buildings  were  required  to  be 
put  upon  that  part  of  the  public  square  ad- 
joining section  1">.  This  is  the  part  now  occu- 
pied by  the  jail  and  by  the  debris  of  the  old 
court  yard  feuce  and  empty  tin  cans,  broken 
jugs  etc,  etc. 

The  county  was  made  part  of  the  0th  judi- 
cal circuit,  and  it  was  also  enacted  that  all 
justices  and  constables,  also  the  County  Sur- 
veyor, who  were  residents  in  the  territory, 
should  hold  their  respective    offices  for   Will 


,   4    , 


county.  By  this  Addison  Collins  became 
our  first  surveyor,  and  also  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  Jas.  McKee,  C.  C.  Van  Horn  and 
O.  W.  Stillnian  our  first  justices.  They  were 
also  made  the  canvassing  board  to  whom  the 
poll  books  of  the  first  election  were  to  be  de- 
livered. This  election  for  the  aditional  county 
officers  was  ordered  to  be  held  on  the  first 
Monday  in  March,  at  the  various  precincts 
established  in  the  territory  by  Cook  county. 
Voting  at  this  time  was  in  thisstate  viva  voce 
or  by  word  of  mouth, affording  no  chance  for 
tissue  ballots. 

Whereupon  the  people  of  the  new  coun- 
ty began  to  move.  Parties  at  this  time  had 
not  been  organized,  or  rather  but  one  party 
was  known — the  Democratic.  It  was  there- 
fore both  safe  and  proper  to  call  a  mass  meet- 
ing without  regard  to  party  to  nominate,  as 
they  always  do,  the  best  men  for  county 
officers. 

Such  a  meeting  was  at  once  called  for  this 
purpose.  I  do  not  know  who  signed  the  call, 
but  I  suppose  "many  citizens."  It  met  in  the 
third  story  of  the  south  store  of  the  new  and 
splendid  stone  block  erected  the  previous  sea- 
son by  M.  H.  Deminond  on  the  southwest 
corner  of  Exchange  and  Bluff  streets.  This 
is  now  known  as  the  D'Arcy  block,  and  in 
describing  it  now  we  do  not  use  the  same  ad- 
jectives. But  then  there  was  no  other  to  dis- 
pute the  distinction,  and  it  furnished  the 
largest  room  for  the  meeting  to  be  found  in 
the  place.  The  West  side  was  then  of  some 
importance,  as  we  expect  it  wdl  be  again 
when  the  Exchange  street  canon  is  completed. 
I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  give  you  any  of 
the  particulars  of  this  meeting.  I  do  not 
know  who  was  chairman  or  secretary.  We 
had  no  paper  then  to  record  the  proceedings. 
I  did  not  attend  it.  For,  having  at  the  urg- 
ent solicitation  of  those  same  "many  citizens," 
who  had  the  welfare  of  the  new  county 
deeply  at  heart,  allowed  my  name  to  go  be- 
fore the  convention  for  the  office  of  recorder, 
I  thought  my  wisest  course  was  to  keep  out 
of  sight.  I  still  think  that  for  me,  at  that 
time,  this  was  the  best  strategy,  and  perhaps 
it  might  be  safely  imitated  by  some  others 
now,  altho'  in  this  degenerate  age  "cheek" 
seems  to  be  most  relied  upon,  and  most  suc- 
cessful. But  in  this  case  modesty  carried  the 
day,  and  I  was  nominated  by  a  large  major- 
ity over  all  competitors. 

(N.  B. — This  was  written  a  week  ago). 
The  following  is  the  full  ticket    nominated 
at  this  meeting: 

For  County  Commissioners — James  Walk- 
er, of  Plainfield:  Holder  Sisson,  of  Lockport, 
and  Thomas  Durham,  of  Bourbonnais. 

For    Recorder — George    H.    Woodruff,    of 
Joliet. 
For  Sheriff — Robert  Stevens,  of  Joliet. 
For  Coroner — Ephraim  Daggett,   of  Joliet. 
This  ticket  met    with    some    opposition    at 
the  polls,  but  was  elected,  as  will  appear  from 
the  report  of  the  board  of    canvassers    which 
we  give  in  full : 

"At  an  election  held  on  the  7th  day  of 
March,  1836,  at  the  several  precincts  within 
the  territory  particularly  mentioned  and  de- 
scribed in  the  act  of  the  general  assembly  of 
Illinois,  entitled,  'an  act  to  establish  the 
county  of  Will,'  approved  Jan.  12,  1830,  and 
in  pursuance  of  the  oth  section  of  said  act, 
the  following  persons  received  the  number  of 


votes  attached  to  their  respective  names,  lor 
the  following  described  offices,  as  appears  to 
us  by  the  returns  made  to  us  by  the  several 
boards  of  canvassers,  lo  wit: 

George    H.    Woodruff,    144    votes    for  re- 
corder. 
Robert  G.  Cook,  70  votes  for  recorder. 
Albert  W.  Bowen,  97  votes  for  recorder. 
Robert  Stevens,  225  votes  for  sheriff. 
Charles  Clement,  9S  votes  for  sheriff. 
Robert  G.  Cook,  44  votes  for  coroner. 
Ephraim  M.  Daggett,  110  votes  for  coronar. 
George  H.  Woodruff,  11  votes    for  coroner. 
James  C.  Butler,  24  votes  for  coroner. 
Moses  N.  Clarke,  10  votes  for  coroner. 
Eri  Dodge,  3  votes  for  coroner. 
John  Lyons,  5  votes  for  coroner." 
(Here  we  have  a  farmer,  a    saloonkeeper,  a 
doctor,  a  boy,  a  butcher,  a  millwright,  a  con- 
stable, and  a  carpenter  "running  a  scramble" 
for  this  high  office.     Need  I  say  that    the    sa- 
loon-keeper come  out  ahead!    I  suppose    the 
people    thought    it    would  work  in  best  with 
his  business,  although  one  of  his    competitors 
was  a  doctor  and  another  a  butcher !) 
(To  resume.) 

James  Walker,  169  votes  for  county  com- 
missioner. 

Thomas  Durham,  290  votes  for  county 
commissioner. 

Jireh  Rowley,  103  votes  for  county  com- 
missioner. 

Harry  Boardman,  123  votes  for  county 
commissioner. 

Holder  Sisson,  107  votes  for  county  com- 
missioner. 

Given  under  our  hand  and  seal  this  9th  day 
of  March,  1835. 

Addison  Collins,  J.  P.,  seal;  James  McKee, 
J.  P.,  seal:  Cornelius  C.  Van  Horn,  J.  P., 
seal;0.  W.  Stillman,  J.  P.,  seal." 

Of  the  names  that  occur  thus  far  in  our 
record,  O.  W.  Stillman  and  myself  are  the 
only  survivors. 

The  highest  number  of  votes  was  cast  for 
sheriff,  total  323.  How  many  stay-at-homes 
there  were  I  do  not  know. 

At  an  election  held  in  August  for  member 
of  congress,  290  votes  were  polled  for  May, 
Dem.,  and  113  for  Stewart.  Whig*  total  403; 
and  at  the  presidential  election  in  November, 
the  vote  stood  306  Dem.  and  ISO  Whig;  total. 
592.  I  have  to  confess  that  my  vote  was 
counted  with  the  majority,  but  the  statute  of 
limitations  saves  me. 

The  vote  of  Will  county  at  the  last  presi- 
dential election  was  Republican,  5,792;  Dem- 
ocrat, 4,722;  Greenback,  304 :  Prohibition,  111; 
total,  10,9S9,  almost  twenty  times  that  of 
1836. 

At  the  August  election  James  Walker  was 
elected  to  the  general  assembly,  and  Richard 
L.  Wilson  was  elected  county  commissioner 
in  his  place. 

At  the  March  election  those  who  resided 
upon  the  west  side  of  the  river  were  in  the 
precinct  of  Plainfield,  and  had  to  go  to  that 
ancient  burg  to  vote,  whde  those  residing 
upon  the  east  side  were  in  the  Hickory  creek 
precinct  and  voted  at  the  log  house  of  Philip 
Scott,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  John 
Shutts,  Esq. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  notice  that  all  of 
this  first  set  of  county  officers  were  native 
Americans.  We  were  then  unfortunately 
compelled  to  rely  upon  such  exclusively,  as 


(5  ) 


neither  our  Gallic  or  our  Teutonic  friends  had 
arrived  to  relieve  us  of  the  irksome  duty  of 
holding  office.  Save  James  McKee,  a  native 
Kentuckian,  and  C.  0.  Van  Home,  a  Mohawk 
Dutchman,  there  was  not  a  "Mc"  or  a  'Van" 
in  the  lot.  Time  has  brought  us  a  happy 
change  in  this  respect,  and  both  Irishmen, 
Scotchmen  and  Germans  are  now  here  in  suf- 
ficient numbers,  and  are  so  patriotic  withal, 
as  generally  to  relieve  us  of  this  onerous 
duty. 

The  first  county  court  was  held  on  the  14th 
day  of  March,  at  the  old  "Joliet  Hotel." 
which  stood  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Ottawa 
and  Van  Buren  streets,  then  kept  by  Thomas 
H.  Blackburn.  Holder  Sisson,  James  Walker 
and  Thomas  Durham  composed  the  court,  not 
so  imposing  in  numbers  as  the  present  board 
of  supervisors,  but  three  dignified,  true  and 
honest  men. 

Their  first  act  was  to  appoint  Levi  Jenks 
clerk,  in  whose  behalf  a  strong  petition  was 
presented  by  his  many  friends.  He  had  come 
to  our  embryo  city  from  Ohio  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1835,  and  was  known  as  a  ready  scribe. 
Mr.  Jenks  is  still  living,  and  is  beside  myself 
the  only  survivor  of  the  original  set  of  county 
officers.  They  also  appointed  him  school  a  un- 
missioner  under  bonds  of  $12,000.  Win. 
Rogers,  Aaron  Moore,  Win.  A.  ChatfieldJ 
Archibald  Crowl  and  Charles  Clement,  all 
good  men  and  true,  were  his  sureties — all  of 
whom  are  now  dead. 

They  also  appointed  Archibald  Crowl  treas- 
urer and  assessor,  but  at  a  subsequent  meet- 
ing in  May  he  was,  at  his  own  request,  re- 
leased from  the  great  responsibility,  and 
Charles  Clement  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

The  conrt  divided  the  county  into  ten  pre- 
cincts, designated  a  place  for  holding  polls, 
and  appointed  three  judges  for  each.  All  the 
persons  so  selected,  with  but  two  exceptions, 
are  dead.  They  also  appointed  viewers  for 
various  county  roads,  one  of  which  was  to 
Plainfield.  then  separated  from  us  by  a  for- 
midable and  sometimes  impassable  slough — 
now  happily  united  to  us  by  bonds  of  steel. 
After  transacting  some  other  business,  they 
voted  themselves  four  dollars  for  three  lays' 
work  and  adjourned. 

At  a  special  meeting  in  May  grand  and 
petit  jurors  were  selected.  Of  the  two  lists 
there  is  but  one — George  Try  on,  of  Chauna- 
hon — that  has  not  joined  the  silent  majority. 

One  of  the  most  important  acts  of  this  .May 
session  was  the  fixing  of  tavern  rates,  then 
considered  a  wholesome  restraint.  They  were 
as  follows: 

For  brandy,  gin,  rum  and  wines,  i>}{  cents 
per  glass. 

For  shrub,  whisky,  cider,  beer,  and  all  fer- 
mented liquors,  <$}{  cents. 

How  these  prices  compare  with  saloon- 
keepers' prices  now  I  am  not  able  to  say,  and 
it  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  supposed  that 
any  old  settler  here  present  could  enlighten  us. 

They  fixed  the  price  of  breakfast,  dinner 
and  supper  at  the  uniform  rate  of  25  cents, 
ignoring  the  distinction  said  to  have  been 
sometimes  made  by  early  tavern  keepers, 
when  they  charged  35  cents  for  "corn  bread 
and  common  doings,"  and  50  cents  for  "'wheat 
bread  and  chicken  fixings." 

The  price  of  lodging  was  fixed  at  12J£  cents, 
without  regard  to  the  kind  or  number  bf  bed- 
fellows. 


Several  licenses  to  keep  tavern  under  these 
wholesome  restrictions  were  granted  at  prices 
from  .?~  to  $15,  according  to  location,  the 
higher  sum  being  for  Joliet. 

Oh,  happy  days!  Oh,  palmy,  golden  days! 
when  one  could  get  license  to  "rob, 
murder  and  destroy"  (as  the  prohibitionists 
would  say)  "for  $15." 

The  court  also  rented  the  second  story  of 
the  Wilson  store  for  a  court  room  and  clerk's 
office.  This  is  the  building  now  occupied  by 
Swanson's  carriage  shop. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  commissioners1  court 
held  in  March,  1837,  it  was  resolved  to  build  a 
court  house  and  jail,  combined.  Richard  L. 
Wilson,  a  member  of  the  board,  and  Allen 
Pratt  and  Albert  Shepard,  were  appointed  a 
building  committee,  and  authorized  to  con 
tract  for  the  erection  of  a  stone  building  two 
stories  high,  and  35x40  feet  on  the  ground. 
The  contract  was  let  to  Blackburn  &  Wilson 
for  $2,000.  Our  present  one  we  believe,  has 
cost  us  about  §180,000.  How  many  extras 
the  contractors  of  the  first  one  got  in  I  do  not 
know.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  stone  building 
was  erected  of  these  modest  dimensions.  A 
pretty  good  idea  may  be  got  of  its  appear- 
ance from  the  illustration  published  in  the 
Historical  Edition  of  the  News,  which  Mr. 
Paige  has  had  transferred  to  the  walls  of  one 
of  our  new  court  rooms.  It  certainly  had 
not  as  imposing  a  facade  as  the  one  just  com- 
pleted, and  there  was  no  ceremony  of  laying 
its  corner  stone.  The  building  committee 
were  not  bothered  by  any  questions  of  a 
tower,  granite  columns,  plate  glass,  frescoing, 
steam  heating  or  bronze  butts,  as  you  will 
rem  lily  conjecture  from  a  look  at  the  illus- 
tration. But  it  had  four  cells  excavated  to 
the  rock  which  held  all  the  criminals  and 
tramps  of  that  day,  except  when  we  had  a 
canal  riot.  Over  these  was  a  court  room 
whose  walls  and  ceilings  only  displayed  the 
rough  work  of  a  common  plasterer,  but  they 
echoed  the  voices  of  the  lawyers  that  com- 
posed the  Will  county  bar  in  the  first  few 
years  of  our  history — the  voices  of  Newkirk, 
Wilson,  Osgood,  Boardman,  Fellows,  Pepper, 
Little,  Norton,  Henderson,  Gardner,  Gregg 
and  Paddock — all  save  the  first  named  now 
silent  in  the  grave,  but  then  a  brilliant  array 
of  legal  and  forensic  talent  which  has  seldom 
been  surpassed. 

Many  interesting  memories  are  attached  to 
this  old  court  room,  some  of  which  I  have 
elsewhere  recorded.  But  there  is  one  which 
I  have  never  made  historic,  and  must  do  so 
now.  It  was  in  that  old  court  room  that  in 
the  campaign  of  1848  a  young  editor  of  Lock- 
port  made  his  maiden  political  speech,  which 
I  am  happy  to  say  was  for  "free  soil" — the 
half-way  house  between  Democracy  and  abo- 
lition. And  it  was  then  that  the  people  of 
Will  county  discovered  that  they  had  an 
orator  among  them — one  of  whom  they  have 
ever  since  been  proud. 

The  old  first  court  house,  and  indeed  the 
second  one,  by  which  it  was  superceded  in 
1850,  make  but  a  sorry  appearance  beside  our 
new  one.  Fifty  years  hence  our  children  and 
grand-children  will  no  doubt  keep  the  centen- 
nial of  Will  county.  While  no  one  can  pre- 
dict the  changes  and  improvements  of  the  next 
half  century,  I  believe  that  the  present  gen- 
eration has  done  its  work  so  wisely  and  so 
well  that  yonder  beautiful  building  will  then 


(  6  ) 


be  standing  intact  and  still  answering  the 
needs  of  Will  county.  I  hope  the  city  papers 
will  put  this  prediction  on  record.  It  may 
give  the  speaker  of  1986  an  opportunity  to 
smile  at  our  expense.  For  so  great  a  progress 
in  the  coming  fifty  years  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  past  would  give  Will  county  a  court  house 
equal  at  least  to  our  State  capitol.  But 
should  such  a  one  be  built  I  do  not  think  it 
will  be  upon  the  ruins  of  the  present  new  one, 
but  on  some  one  of  our  highest  bluffs,  with  so 
high  a  tower  that  from  it  one  will  then  look 
down  upon  a  city  of  300,000  or  400,000— 
its  gorgeous  stores  and  dwellings  and  exten- 
sive manufacturies  not  only  filling  up  this 
valley  from  Lockport  to  Joliet  Lake,  but  also 
crowning  all  the  enclosing  bluffs,  and  extend- 
ing far  out  upon  the  outlying  prairies ;  while 
through  this  same  rocky  bottom  shall  then 
flow  an  enlarged  canal,  fed  directly  from 
Lake  Michigan,  and  bearing  upon  its  pellucid 
waters  the  commerce  both  of  the  lakes  of  the 
North  and  the  great  rivers  of  the  South  and 
West.  Our  new  and  beautiful  court  house  of 
to-day  will  then  be  occupied  by  the  city  mag- 
nates of  the  council  and  school  boards — not 
the  present  incumbents  probably — and  by  a 
grand  city  library,  containing  something  be- 
sides novels. 

In  estimating  the  progress  in  city  and  connty 
during  the  half  century  we  close  to- 
day we  must  use  twenty,  and  in  some  things 
eighty,  for  our  multiplier.  Using  twenty  for 
the  next  fifty  years,  and  cur  children  and 
grandchildren  will  see  the  fulfillment  of  our 
dream. 

But,  fellow  thirty-sixers,  we  shall  not  see 
it,  at  least  not  in  the  flesh.  What  we  may 
see  and  know  as  disembodied  spirits  it  is  not 
worth  our  while  to  speculate  upon,  for  we 
shall  soon  know. 

Of  the  county  officers  elected  in  the  spring 
of  1836  Robert  Stevens  declined  to  serve  as 
sheriff,  and  at  the  August  election  Fenner 
Aldrich  was  elected.  The  first  circuit  court 
was  held  in  the  Wilson  building  in  October 
by  Judge  Ford,  afterwards  governor.  He  ap- 
pointed Levi  Jenks  clerk  of  the  court,  thus 
heaping  honors  and  offices  upon  him ;  and 
Uri  Osgood  State's  attorney,  and  so  the  new 
county  was  fairly  launched  upon  its  glorious 
career. 

Among  the  records  of  the  county  clerk's 
office  there  is  a  curious  little  book  about  six 
inchea  square,  in  which  are  recorded  the  ear 
marks  of  the  early  settlers  These  marks 
consists  of  slits,  crops  and  holes  of  various 
shapes  made  in  the  right  or  left  ear.  The 
mark  selected  by  a  settler  was  recorded  with 
a  pen  and  ink  illustration  of  the  same,  and 
when  so  selected  and  recorded  became  the  ex 
elusive  franchise  of  such  settler. 
The  first  entry  in  this  book  is  as  follows: 
Name,  Reason  Zarley;  date,  April  2d,  1836; 
mark,  crop  of  left  ear  and  slit  in  the  right. 

I  ought  to  haye  said  that  these  marks  were 
intended  for  the  ears  of  the  settler's  swine, 
sheep,  cows,  calves  and  mules ;  and  that  they 
were  for  the  purpose  of  identification  merely. 
For  in  those  happy,  palmy,  golden  days  no 
one  thought  of  questioning  the  right  of  any 
man's  swine  or  cows,  whether  their  ears  were 
frescoed  or  not,  to  occupy  the  public  streets, 
or  to  enter  any  yard  or  garden,  at  their  own 
sweet  will.  Such  tyranny  was  reserved  for 
"this  degenerate  age." 


There  is  another  curious  little  book  of  the 
same  same  size,  in  which  are  recorded  the 
marriage  licenses  issued.  An  examination 
shows  that  thirty-five  were  issued  in  1836,  and 
that  our  old  friend,  O.  W.  Stillman,  tied  the 
first  knot  under  Will  county  auspices,  April 
5,  1836.  During  the  seven  months  which 
have  elapsed  of  1886,  the  number  issued  has 
been  306,  and  Mr.  Zarley  says  that  owing  to 
the  hard  times  it  has  not  been  a  good  year 
for  the  little  God  either.  The  last  number 
was  11,490,  which  shows  that  our  increase  in 
population  has  been  largely  a  legitimate 
home  product. 

There  were  other  events  which  made  the 
year  1836  memorable.  Many  valuable  citi- 
zens were  added  to  town  and  county.  Not 
to  mention  others,  J.  A.  Matteson,  after- 
wards governor,  and  George  Woodruff,  late 
our  banker,  and  Brother  Hardy,  came  that 
year.  It  was  also  the  year  in  which  ground 
was  first  broke  on  our  canal. 

But  I  have  already  occupied  more  than  my 
share  of  time,  and  must  leave  something, 
both  of  time  and  topic,  for  Judge  Parks.  I 
am  afraid  I  have  already  stolen  some  of  his 
thunder. 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say  that  I 
must  sincerely  thank  you  for  the  honor  be 
stowed  upon  me  for  the  first  six  years  of  our 
organization,  and  I  most  earnestly  renew  my 
request  to  be  relieved  from  the  honor  in 
future. 


judge  park's  oration: 

The  orator  of  the  day,  Judge  G.  D.  A. 
Parks,  delivered  a  highly  interesting  speech 
that  commanded  the  most  profound  attention 
of  the  assemblage.  The  address  is  lavishly 
complimented  on  every  hand  and  is  as  fol- 
lows- 

In  following  the  president  of  your  society, 
I  feel  a  good  deal  like  the  famous  Thackeray 
before  commencing  one  of  his  lectures  upon 
the  Four  Georges.  Reconnoitering  his  audi- 
ence and  spying  that  encyclopedia  in  breeches, 
Macaulay,  on  one  of  the  front  seats,  the  dis- 
mayed lecturer  whispered  to  a  firiend:  "A 
guinea  to  any  man  who  will  manage  to  get 
that  fellow  out  of  the  room.  Egad  in  his 
presence  I  feel  like  a  poor  devil  with  a  six 
pence  in  his  pocket  in  the  counting  house  of 
the  Barings." 

That,  my  friends,  is  about  my  size  as  I  find 
myself  rising  on  this  platform  after  the  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  who  has  now  for  so 
many  years  been  looked  up  to  as  the  Colossus 
of  Joliet  and  Will  county  history.  As  to  all 
the  facts  of  that  history,  big  or  little,  having 
the  leest  interest  for  anybody,I  would  readily 
own  up  that  he  has  forgotten  more  than  I 
ever  knew,  were  it  not  for  the  other  fact  that 
he  has  forgotten  nothing,  and  that  whatever 
he  touches  he  somehow  makes  interesting. 
It's  a  mere  knack,  of  course,  but  it  is  his 
knack. 

The  task  assigned  me,  as  you  have  learned 
from  the  executive  proclamation  announcing 
the  order  of  exercises, is  to  speak  the  piece  de 
resistance,  a  French  culinary  term  which 
means,  I  am  informed,  a  tough  piece  to  chew 
on.  That  piece  you  shall  duly  have,  and  it 
will  be,  I  fear,   all  that  the  phrase  implies. 


<  ?  » 


There  are,  however,  some  other  disagreeable 
things  which  I  can  and  will  spare  yon.  You 
will,  I  know,  be  rejoiced  to  hear  from  me  in 
the  outset  that  I  intend  to  steer  around  all 
perilous  comparisons  and  in  fact  to  give  that 
man  Woodruff  a  wide  berth  in  my  excur- 
sions. I  shall  not,  you  may  rest  assured,  be 
caught  here  gleaning  after  such  a  reaper  and 
binder  in  the  historical  field  who  has  gobbled 
up  every  Will  county  story,  tale,  anecdote, 
narrative,  legend  on  dif,  ;/<■"  d'  esprit,  tra- 
dition, joke  or  item  worth  repeating  which 
has  appeared  in  these  parts  since  the  Sac  war. 
Nor  do  I  intend  to  make  myself  an  object  of 
commiseration  delicately  flavored  with  con- 
tempt by  feebly  essaying  to  touch  up,  to  use 
a  painters'  phrase,  the  fine  panorama  of  old 
times  he  has  unrolled  before  you.  In  short, 
the  historical,  pictorial  and  statistical  part  of 
these  exercises  you  may  consider  as  done,  and 
the  little  that  remains  to  me  is  a  short  sum- 
ming up,  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  a  dox- 
ology. 

The  county  of  Will,  offspring  of  Cook  and 
mother-in-law  of  Kankakee,  came  into  ex- 
istence by  the  Ji  at  of  the  legislature  and  was 
fully  organized  in  1836.  This  year,  therefore, 
disregarding  the  minutiae  of  days  and 
months,  is  the  semi-centenial  of  its  birth,  a 
chronological  fact,  which  could  scarcely  fail 
to  be  recognized  with  interest  by  those  who 
have  spent  their  lives  wholly  or  for  the  most 
part  within  its  limits. 

The  commemoration  of  important  public 
events  upon  the  anniversaries  of  their  occur- 
rence has  become  a  most  popular  custom,  es- 
pecially in  our  new  world  where  old  Father 
Time,  as  yet,  has  furnished  us  but  a  scanty 
supply  of  centuries  or  semi-centuries  for  pur- 1 
poses  of  celebration.  Hence  it  was  not  to  be 
supposed  that  your  society,  devoted  as  it  is  to 
keeping  alive  the  memories  of  the  past  con- 
cerning your  own  county,  could  forget  so  re 
markable  au  accessory  to  the  programme  of 
this  reunion. 

The  interest  of  the  affair,  doubtless,  is  cir- 
cumscribed— of  small  concern  to  those  whose 
lot  was  cast  outside  of  these  Elysian  fields. 
But  we  are  the  foster  children  of  old  Will, 
and  to-day  we  flock  lovingly  to  her  side  with 
birthday  offerings. 

The  Genius  of  Home  by  some  mystic  spell 
upon  the  heart  endears  every  spot  where  a 
hearth-stone  has  been  planted,  a  roof  tree 
raised,  an  altar  set  up,  a  school  house  built,  a 
grave  opened  where  kindred  hands  have  laid 
the  form  of  some  one  loved  and  lost. 

The  fields,  the  prairies  the  groves,  the 
springs,  the  streams,  the  highways,  the  lanes, 
the  streets,  the  churches,  the  play  grounds, 
the  homesteads,  the  hillsides  dotted  with  those 
other  homes  appointed  to  ail  the  living,  these 
objects,  composing  the  scene  and  background 
of  our  daily  lives  and  interwoven  in  the  web 
of  memory  with  all  the  vicissitudes  of  our 
earthly  existence,  become  like  the  lineaments 
of  a  dear  old  mother's  face,  and  our  hearts 
cling  to  her  soil  as  to  a  mother's  bosom.  I 
owe  and  pay  homage  to  the  Union  and  to  my 
state;  but  the  only  patch  of  earth  which,  by 
any  figure  of  speech,  I  can  be  said  to  love, 
lies  within  the  compas  of  that  county  where 
my  whole  active  life  has  been  spent  and  where, 
God  willing,  my  bones  are  to  be  laid. 

It  is  natural  for  us,  then,  as  the  children  of 
Will  county,  to  regard  in  some    becoming 


manner,  this  incident  in  her  history.  To  the 
customary  festivities  of  our  annual  reunion 
we  are  now  permitted  to  add  our  mutual  con- 
gratulations that  we  behold  under  circum- 
stances so  auspicious  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  year  when  she  assumed  her  place,  a 
proud  one  from  the  first,  upon  the  imperial 
map  of  Illinois.  And  to-day,  like  a  baud  of 
travelers  gathered  together  at  nightfall  upon 
sonic  commanding  eminence,  we  pause  here 
and  turning  our  eyes  back  amidst  the  deep 
euing  shadows,  endeavor  to  catch  glimpses 
here  and  there  of  our  long  and  winding 
In  this  commemoration  I  think  you  do  no  more 
than  your  duty  as  citizens.  So  distinguished 
a  mile  stone  on  your  road  could  not  decently 
be  passed  without  some  sign  of  notice.  A 
nation  or  a  community  indiffereut  to  their  his- 
tory, without  national,  state  or  county  pride, 
without  sensibility  or  public  spirit,  knowing 
no  good  save  what  is  good  to  eat,  with 
hearts  strung  like  a  banjo,  incapable 
of  being  stirred  with  bright  visions 
of  their  country's  future  or  tender  recollec- 
tions of  its  past,  immersed  in  what  Carlysle 
calls  the  pig's  swash  of  selfish  gain  and  swin- 
ish enjoyment,  such  a  race  if  such  a  race  were 
supposable,  would  make  up  a  commonwealth, 
be  it  large  or  small,  about  as  sympathetic  as 
the  clusters  of  an  oyster  bed  and  not  half  as 
much  to  my  taste.  I  could  conceive  of  such 
a  congregation  of  bipeds— it  would  really  be 
of  no  consequence  whefher  they 
had  two  feet  or  four— only 

under  the  idea  of  a  desert  waste  like  that  de- 
scribed by  Junius  in  one  of  his  scathing  let- 
ters, ', where  no  flower  takes  root  and  no  ver- 
dure quickens." 

Your  speaker  has  often,  perhaps  too  often 
said,  for  it  is  a  thought  which  such  occasions 
always  suggest  to  his  mind,  that  the  true 
superiority  of  a  nation  is  in  its  heart:  not  in 
its  granaries,  warehouses,  treasuries;  not  in 
its  flocks  and  herds,  not  in  its  fleets  and  arm- 
ies, not  even  in  its  institutions  of  government, 
however  excellent,  but  in  in  the  universality 
and  intensity  and  supremecy  of  that  love  of 
fatherland  and  home,  which  is  the  germ  of 
all  social  and  domestic  charities,  all  civil  as- 
sociation, and  all  true,  national  spirit. 
Without  this  inspiration  no  hero  would  draw 
Ins  sword,  no  monuments  would  rise  to 
sainted  names;  Art  would  drop  the  brush 
and  chisel  from  her  palsied  hands,  and  Music, 
Poetry.Eloquence  that  now  move  and  delight 
the  world  would  be  stricken  dumb. 

Such  occasions  of  patriotic  communion 
come  like  showers  to  our  souls  parched  with 
business  cares,  and  therefore  I  can  but  con- 
gratulate you  on  this  feature  of  your  present 
meeting.  You,  old  pioneers,  who  have 
fought  through  the  long  campaign,  you  sure- 
ly can  well  felicitate  yourselves  on  the  reflec- 
tions which  are  yours  to-day.  If  life  lengths 
ened  out  to  cover  the  most  eventful  epochs  of 
all  time,  be  worth  living;  if  we  may  call  it  a 
happy  fortune  to  have  been  actors  in  a 
drama  of  moral,  intellectual  and  physical  pro- 
gress, such  as  no  other  age  has  witnessed; 
if  the  soil  of  Will  county  has  been  for  us  the 
appointed  stage  on  which  we  have  played  our 
respective  parts ;  if  it  be  fitting  for  rational 
beings  to  recall  and  ponder  upon  events 
closely  connected  with  their  own  individual 
fortunes  and  with  the  forturnes  of  the 
state   or  community  to  which  they  belong  as 


(8) 


members,  then  O!  ye  men  and  women  of  1836, 
lift  your  vcices  in  thanksgiving,  clasp 
your  "hands  together  in  mutual  greetings, 
that  you  behold  this  day. 

The  shades  of  night  indeed  are  falling,  and 
oblivion  with  its  fast  pursuing  tide  has  sub  - 
merged  all  but  faint  and  broken  traces  of 
your  long,  long  road.  It  is  like  evening 
straining  its  dim  eyes  to  recall  the  impress- 
ions of  the  morning.  Yet  now  for  this  short 
hour,  without  vain  regrets,  without  idle  mur- 
murs, even  if  not  entirely  without  the  tears 
which  are  due  to  human  fellowship,  let  us 
give  ourselves  up  to  cheerful  and  exultant 
retrospect  of  the  past. 

You  whom  I  address  by  the  general  appel- 
lation of  old  settlers  were  not  all  here  when 
Will  county  first  saw  the  light  as  a  body  poli- 
tic, but  I  rejoice  to  recognize  a  goodly  num- 
ber who  were  here,  and  among  that  number 
<  spec  ially  one  long,  tough  connecting  link 
that  can  easily  clasp  both  sides  of  half  a  cen- 
tury, with  some  years  to  spare  at 
the  other  end.  Your  worthy  president,  not 
only  was  here  full  grown  and  ripe  when  the 
county  was  born,  but  he  was  one  of  the  nurses, 
a  dry  one,  who  officially  rocked  its  cradle, 
helped  teach  the  urchin  its  first7j0s.se  comita- 
tus,  and  true  to  his  propensities  even  at  that 
early  day,  scribbled  records  of  its  deeds.  Go 
read  them  in  the  court  house — if  you  can. 
As  to  the  pap  pertaining  to  his  kindly  and 
tender  office — well,  as  to  the  pap  I  am  afraid 
he  took  the  most  of  that  himself  as  fees.  No 
matter — let  bygones  be  bygones.  I  for  one 
forgive  him  the  fortune  he  accumulated  in  the 
first  term  of  the  recorder's  office,  and  to-day 
have  only  to  be  glad  with  you  that  a  life  so 
genial  and  so  useful  in  rare  forms  of  public 
service  has  been  spared  so  long. 

There  are  others  here  also,  contemporaries 
with  the  event,  bearing  honored  and  in  some 
instances  I  may  say,  distinguished  names  in 
the  annals  of  our  county,  but  which  it  is  not 
within  the  scope  of  my  short  discourse  to 
mention. 

My  friend  Woodruff,  of  course,  forms  an 
exception,  because,  yon  know,  he  is  the  typi- 
cal old  settler,  and  on  such  an  occasion  your 
speaker  could  no  more  refrain  from  naming 
him  than  a  Bunker  Hill  orator  could  refrain 
from  pointing  up  to  the  monument. 

But  ignoring  now  all  nice  distinctions  of 
rank  and  seniority  as  old  settlers,  we  are  as- 
sembled in  our  common  character  as  fellow 
citizens  of  Will  county  to  greet  with  some 
proper  forms  of  recognition  the  semi-centen- 
nial that  meets  us  here  to-day ;  an  annivers- 
ary of  venerable  aspect,  its  locks  blanched 
with  many  winters,  its  visage  seamed  with 
many  cares  and  conflicts ;  but  its  outstretched 
hands  full  of  good  gifts  and  thank-worthy 
blessings. 

Ten  years  since  our  nation  by  one  universal 
impulse  knelt  with  reverence  and  awe,  as  the 
clock  of  centuries  struck  a  hundred  years 
from  the  date  of  American  independence. 
Four  years  ago  you  of  this  society  again 
noted  as  an  event  not  without  interest  even 
to  the  pioneers  of  Will  county,  that  almost 
forgotten  battle  at  Bad  Ax,  which  with  its 
little  volley  of  a  score  or  so  of  rifles  termi- 
nated the  reign  of  the  red  man  in  the 
whole  Northwest.  And  to-day  again  you 
honor  your  character  as  an  intelligent  com- 
munity while  marching  past  this  conspicuous 


and  noted  waymark,  to  halt  for  one  short 
hour  of  recognition  and  remembrance.  And 
now,  fellow  citizens,  if  I  give  way  to  my  pro- 
pensities, I  should  from  this  on,  do  little  else 
than  brag.  But  in  the  crowd  there  may  be 
strangers  from  abroad,  men  possibly  from 
Grundy  or  Kendall,  and  these  guests  must 
be  treated  with  tender  consideration.  The 
duties  of  hospitality  must  be  respected,  and  I 
will  simply  ask  these  ill-starred  foreigners, 
if  they  have  not  often  felt  a  little  sad  as 
they  reflected  upon  their  lamentable  mistake 
in  not  settlingsomewhere  in  some  blessed  town 
ship  in  some  range  from  9  to  15  E.  of  the  3 
P.  M.,  and  32  to  37  N.  of  the  base  line. 

It  is  impossible  to  stand  where  I  stand  to- 
day, in  the  midst  of  such  a  scene  of  prosper- 
ity and  health  and  happiness,with  such  a  past 
for  proud  remembrance,  and  such  a  future 
for  intoxicating  hope,  without  giving  vent 
to  the  superlatives  of  exultation  which  it  in- 
spires. Half  a  century,  not  merely  of  great 
progress  and  improvement — such  words  seem 
tame— but  half  a  century,  let  us  rather  say, 
of  miracles  and  marvels!  Where  will  you 
And  in  all  history  another  like  period  of  fifty 
years  (  What  generation  hereafter  can  sur- 
pass our  experience;1  Long  ago  I  lost  all 
courage  in  setting  bounds  to  the  empire  of 
human  intellect,  but  still  I  find  it  hard  to  be 
lieve  that  in  any  future  cycle  of  like  dura- 
tion a  like  advance  is  possible.  It  would  in- 
deed almost  seem  as  if  preceding  ages  had 
moved  forward  as  a  mere  preface  to  our 
own ;  and  had  been  chiefly  charged  to  accu- 
mulate the  germs  and  prepare  the  conditions 
for  this  wonderful  development. 

In  this  march  of  progress,  it  is  enough  to 
say,  that  Will  county  has  never  been  caught 
lagging  behind  the  most  forward  of  her  sis- 
ters, but  has  always  pushed  bravely  to  the 
front.  And  here  would  be  the  place  to  pro- 
duce the  positive  evidence  of  this  proud 
boast,  if  my  limits  allowed.  Nothing  from 
me,  I  am  aware,  could  be  so  entertaining  as 
an  ample  statistical  exhibit,  presenting  with 
precision  and  impressive  force  the  contrasts 
between  the  young  Will  of  1836  and  the  old 
Will  of  1880  in  all  the  phenomena  of  growth 
which  can  be  expressed  by  figures.  But  your 
president's  address  has  at  once  saved  me  that 
labor  and  cut  me  out  of  that  honor.  And, in- 
deed, why  the  necessity  at  all?  The  tomb  of 
Sir  Christopher  Wren  in  the  crypt  of  St. 
Paul's  cathedral,  of  which  he  was  the  archi- 
tect, arrests  the  visitor  with  the  inscription, 
"If  you  are  seeking  for  the  monument,  look 
around  you.'1''  So  I  might  say  of  the  evidence 
of  our  progress,  the  volume  lies  open  before 
you.  Who  does  not  remember  Webster's  still 
more  sublime  expression  in  referring  to  the 
state,  whose  fame  at  a  critical  moment 
seemed  to  hang  upon  his  lips:  "I  shall  enter 
upon  no  encomium  upon  Massachusetts.  She 
needs  none.  There  she  is;  behold  her  and 
judge  for  yourselves." 

For  our  own  Will  county,  I  would  to-day 
almost  dare  to  imitate  that  compendious  and 
majestic  eulogy.  I  need  not,  as  I  cannot 
measure  her  diversified  products  or  count  her 
population,  add  up  the  long  columns  of  her 
wealth  or  prepare  an  inventory  of  her  re 
sources.  On  this  occasion,  I  point,  not  to  her 
numbers  or  riches ;  not  to  her  net- work  of 
railroads,  by  which  every  township  nearly 
is  throbbing  with    the  arteries  of    commerce ; 


(a  ) 


not  to  her  multitude  of  markets,  convenient 
to  every  pasture  and  cornfield:  not  to  her 
wide  expanse  of  rich  and  well-tilled  farms ; 
not  to  her  advanced  agriculture,  furnished 
with  all  the  mechanical  appliances, which  can 
strengthen  the  sower's  ami  reaper's  hand,  and 
with  all  the  methods  of  fertilization  and 
drainage  which  can  redeem  or  ameliorate  the 
soil;  not  to  her  mines  and  manufactures:  not 
to  her  towns  and  cities;  not  to  her  light  bur- 
then of  taxation,  and  its  necessary  concomi- 
tant, an  honest  and  economical  public  ser- 
vice ;  not  to  these  things  would  I  point,  but 
rather  to  her  grander  aspects  as  a  cultivated 
and  Christian  community.  I  would  point  to 
her  tens  of  thousands  of  elegant  and  tasteful 
homes  in  towns  and  country,  the  seats  of  do- 
mestic virtue  and  refinement,  the  citadels  of 
industry  and  order.  I  would  point  to  her 
schools  and  sanctuaries,  of  which  no  traveler 
within  her  limits  anywhere  can  lose  sight.  I 
would  to-day  point  with  special  pride  to  that 
Temple  of  Justice  just  completed,  that  speaks, 
with  all  the  emphasis  with  which  stone  and 
iron,niade  eloquent  by  architecture,can  attest, 
to  her  profound  loyalty  to  the  institutions  of 
government,  and  to  the  rank  which  her  in- 
habitants for  fifty  years  have  held  and  still 
hold  as  a  God-fearing,  order-loving  and  law- 
abiding  people. 

The  occasion  bids  me  dwell  yet  a  moment 
longer  on  this  allusion  to  our  new  court 
house,  which  stands  a  visible  and  splendid 
monument,  not  only  of  the  wealth,  enteprirse 
and  spirit  of  our  inhabitants,  but  of  the  wis- 
dom, prudence  and  integrity  of  our  public 
servants.  Here,  again,  I  am  denied  the  priv- 
ilege of  going  into  details  and  awarding  to 
individuals  variously  connected  with  the 
work,  the  honors  they  respectively  deserve — 
architect,  contractors,  suj>erintendent,  build- 
ing committee,  and  last  though  not  least  those 
members  of  our  county  board  who  were  most 
prominent  in  originating  or  sustaining  the 
project.  I  am  now  to  speak  of  it  only  in  its 
significance  as  a  sensible  and  conspicuous 
symbol  of  progress — a  mute  but  potent  wit- 
ness to  our  character  as  a  political  com- 
munity. Of  this  indeed  it  is  a  most  potent 
and  a  most  opportune  witness.  The  bound- 
less license  which  our  too  lenient  government 
gives  to  whatever  chooses  to  call  itself  by  the 
name  of  political  theory, and  our  overweening 
confidence  in  institutions  which  we  are  wont 
to  regard  as  immutable  as  they  are  good, 
have  at  length  allowed  the  elements  of  a  vol- 
cano to  gather  under  our  very  feet.  Even 
within  our  own  borders  some  of  our  impor- 
tant industries  were  not  long  ago  involved  in 
the  widespread  revolt  of  labor  against  capi- 
tal. And  the  end  is  not  yet.  Jurists  and 
statesmen  are  daily  receiving  portentous  ad- 
monitions in  a  thousand  forms,  that  a  revolu- 
tion,either  bloodless  or  bloody, as  the  power  of 
government  shall  be  wisely  or  unwisely  wielded 
is  preparing  to  readjust  upon  some  new  basis 
the  relations  between  the  several  classes  into 
which  society  has  hitherto  been  divided. 

At  such  a  time,  we  ought  to  feel,  and  if 
not  "to  dull  forgetfulness  a  prey,"  must  feel 
with  a  peculiar  intensity,  that  our  chief  safe- 
guard against  crime  and  violence,  nay,  that 
our  best  hope  for  every  proper  reform,  how- 
ever radical,  is  to  be  found  within  the  pale  of 
the  law  and  the  ultimate  power  of  the  ballot- 
box. 


The  sword  of  the  magistrate  is  not,  it  is 
true,  our  only  security.  In  my  conception  of 
the  social    edifice  I  see  three  great  pillars  of 

SUppOl't — RELKilON,      EDUCATION,     LAW.      No 

One  of  these,  upon  any  hypothesis  which  1 
find  yet  justified  by  history,  can  be  spared 
from  the  structure. 

But  in  the  view  of  the  practical  statesman, 
the  great  central  column  of  the  whole  is  the 
Law.  The  prime  concern  of  every  common- 
wealth, whichjis  to  live  by  industry  rather  than 
rapine,  and  would  not  overturn  in  utter 
chaos  the  rights  of  property  and  person,  is  the 
firm  pure,  uniform,  indexible  administration 
of  civil  and  criminal  justice  in  its  courts.  To 
that  justice  Will  county  has  now  in  its  fiftieth 
year,  in  the  plenitude  of  its  resources,comple- 
ted  another  temple,  not  destined  indeed,  to 
be  more  honorable  by  the  associations  of  an 
able  bar  and  an  upright  judiciary  and  of 
public  respect  and  confidence,  than  that  which 
is  nowsupplants  and  over  shadows  ;but  which, 
in  these  times  of  evil  omen,  when  Anarchy 
twin  sister  of  Atheism  is  abroad,  testifies  in 
trumpet  tones,  that  Will  county  is  now  as  she 
has  ever  been,  a  land  of  Law;  and  that  she 
is  resolved  to  moutain  that  high  character  as 
long  as  these  solid  foundations  shall  endure. 
So  may  it  be !  And  if  so  goodly  a  gathering 
of  the  gray-haired  patriarchs  of  of  our  county 
may  without  impropriety  perform  today 
some  rude  rite  of  dedication,  we  here  conse- 
crate that  temple  to  justice,  inflexible  as  its 
walls,  firm  as  its  corner  stone.  Let  it  ever 
be  a  sanctuary  now  and  in  all  coming  time 
for  that  law, of  which  it  was  once  so  eloquent- 
ly said:  "Her  seat  is  the  bosom  of  God,  her 
voice  is  the  harmony  of  the  world;  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  do  her  homage, 
the  very  least  as  feeling  her  care,  and  the 
greatest  as  not  exempted  from  her  power." 

But  I  must  not  close  without  giving  you 
briefly  some  proof  that  I  am  insensible  to 
none  of  the  objects  of  this  meeting.  I  do  not 
forget  that  this  is  a  festival  for  reviving  old 
friendships,  a  cherished  season  for  social  en- 
joyments, valued  the  more  because  we  feel 
that  they  connot  often  be  repeated.  Yet  a 
few  years,  and  the  pioneers  of  Will  county 
will  have  passed  away  to  the  last  man.  Such 
we  know  is  the  lot  of  mortality.  These  meet- 
ings like  all  meetings  in  the  evening  of  life 
cannot  be  without  some  suggestion  of  the  in- 
evitable end.  The  harvest,  year  by  year, 
grows  more  and  more  thin,  but  yet  more  and 
more  ripe  for  the  great  Reaper.  I  cannot 
count  up  the  places  in  the  line  made  vacant 
since  the  last  roll  call.  The  necrological  re- 
cord has  been  reserved  for  another  hand. 
Within  the  compass  of  a  few  recent  months 
Peter  Adams,  William  J.  Heath  and  Calneh 
Zarley,  amongst  our  earliest  inhabitants  here 
in  Joliet,  have  joined  the  majority.  Of  these 
and  others  you  will  not,  of  course,  expect  me 
to  speak  at  length.  The  name  of  Zarley, how- 
ever, as  one  of  the  very  oldest  of  our  inhabi- 
tants, one  of  the  best  known  editors  in  our 
state,  and  a  marked  and  somewhat  extraor- 
dinary character,  both  in  his  noble  and  less 
noble  traits,  can  hardly  be  dismissed  on  such 
an  occasion  as  this  without  the  tribute  of  a 
a  word.  A  skillful  and  friendly  hand  has 
lately  drawn  his  portrait,  and  little  could  1 
add  to  that.  We  shall  miss  his  famUiar  face 
and  form,  seen  daily  by  most  of  us  for  so 
many  years,  as  we  should   miss  an  old  famil- 


( io  ) 


iar  tree  from  the  prospect  of  our  dwelling 
places.  Though  its  boughs  were  gnarled  and 
knotted  and  its  symmetry  sadly  marred  by 
the  storms  with  which  it  had  stubbornly 
battled,  still  we  should  miss  it  as  an  object 
inlaid  with  our  life-long  memories,  and  the 
void  would  be  one  which  could  never  be  filled. 
Even  our  old  friend's  infirmities  and  errors, 
as  si  >me  would  call  them,  grew  out  of  his  de- 
votion to  his  party,  as  self-sacrificing  as  any 
which  ever  led  a  martyr  to  the  stake  or  a 
patriot  to  the  scaffold.     Peace  to  his  ashes! 

Personal  allusions  crowd  upon  me,  but  I 
have  outstayed  my  welcome  and  must  close. 
In  retiring  I  will  not  suffer  myself  to  think 
or  say  that  we  shall  all  never  meet  again. 
Death  is  a  hard  creditor,  I  know,  and 
he  is  very  apt  to  collect  the  debt  of  nature 
punctually  as  it  falls  due,  without  discount, 
renewal,  extension  or  days  of  grace.  I  notice 
also  that  he  accepts  no  dilatory  pleas. 
But  still  I  say,  let  not  the  cypress  of  the 
grave  project  its  shadows  too  far  over  the 
precincts  of  life.  Let  us  take  the  jolly  old 
epicure's  advice,  with  some  pious  qualifica- 
tions— and  just  "live  while  we  live."  A  cer- 
tain allowance  of  fun  for  us  old  fellows — 
I  would  join  the  ladies  in  the  proposition,  if  I 
dared  call  them  old,  is  not  only  a  legal  right, 
but  a  religious  duty,  and  every  interest  in 
this  world  or  the  next,  I  am  sure,  is  promoted 
by  a  cheerful  temper.  We  elderly  gentlemen 
—elderly  is  the  word— have  yet  some  useful 
duties  to  perform,  even  on  the  downhill  of 
life,  and  we  can  best  perform  those  duties 
by  cultivating  this  happy  disposition. 

Thus  living,  patient  and  hopeful  under  all 
the  ills,  and  grateful  for  all  the  blessings  and 
alleviations  of  our  lot,  when  the  end  comes 
we  may  realize  the  poet's  Euthanasia — 
"Thou  ^o,  not  like  u  quarry  slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  Ins  dungeon;  but  sustained 
and  soothed 

By  an  unfaltering  trust  approach  thy  grave, 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About   him.  and   lies     down     to     pleasant 
dreams." 

Dr.  B.  F.   Allen,  the  necrologer.  read  the 
list. 


OLD  SETTLERS  WHO    DIED   SINCE    LAST  MEET- 
ING. 

Mrs  Mary  Ashley,  wife  of  Cyrus  Ashley- 
Born  in  1836 ;  died  at  her  home  in  Joliet  of 
consumption,  October  T,  1885. 

Mrs.  Louise  W.  Dibell,  widow  of  Elder  J. 
B.  Dibell,  aud  mother  of  Judge  Dibell— Born 
in  Ellington,  Conn.,  in  1819;  died  at  Joliet, 
October  17,  1885. 

James  Goodspeed,  member  of  the  bar — 
Born  in  Tioga  county,  Pa.,  in  1836;  died  at 
his  home  in  Joliet,  October  17,  1885. 

Wm,  Nettler— Born  in  1810 ;  died  at  Wyan- 
nette,  Bureau  county,  111.,  October  8,  1885. 

Jeptha  Elderkin— Born  In  1803 ;  died  Nov. 
4,  1885,  in  Joliet. 

Mrs.  Rebecca  Demmond,  widow  of  Charles 
Demmond — Born  in  Rutland,  Mass.,  in  1804; 
came  to  Illinois  hi  1839;  died  at  the  home  of 
her  son,  M.  G.  Demmond,  in  Joliet,  Dec.  4, 
1885. 

Mr.  Corbett — Born  in  1810 ;  found  dead  in 
his  bed  Dec.  5, 1885,  four  miles  from  Wilming- 
ton. 

Robert  Strong — Born  in  Greensboro,  Vt., 


in  1806:  settled  in  DuPage  township  in  1831 ; 
died  at  his  home  Dec.  30,  1885. 

Jacob  S.  Palmer— Born  in  1810;  died  in 
Joliet,  Jan.  14,  1886. 

Mrs.  Caroline  E.  Sunderland,  sister  of  S. 
W.  Randall,  of  this  citv— Born  in  1813;  died 
at  Plainfield,  March  6,1886. 

Sexton  R.  Rathburn,  father  of  Valentine 
Rathburn — Born  in  Marcellus,  Onandago 
county,  N.  Y.,  in  1805;  came  to  Illinois  in 
1845,  died  at  DuPage,  March  11.  1885. 

Mrs.  Abiah  Weeks — Born  in  1797 ;  died  at 
the  home  of  her  son,  Horace,  in  Joliet,  March 
26,  1886. 

Dan'l  B.  McElhern — Born  iu  1819;  died  in 
Joliet,  April  24, 1885. 

Mrs.  Rachael  Barrett — Born  in  1814;  died 
at  Brooklyn,  Joliet  township,  Mrach  21, 
18S6. 

John  Linebarger — Born  in  1818;  died  at 
Bonfield,  111.,  May  6,  1886,  for  many  years 
a  resident  of  Jackson,  111. 

Robt.  L.  Seward— Born  in  Otsego  county, 
N.  Y,  in  1828;  came  to  will  county  in  1850. 

Morgan  Ashley — Born  in  Lewis  county,  N. 
Y,  in  1818;  came  to  Illinois  in  1833;  first  set- 
tled in  Plainfield ;  died  west  of  Lockport,  June 
20,  1886. 

Wm.  J.  Heath— Born  in  Oswego  comity, 
N.  Y.  in  1804;  came  to  illinois  in  1840;  died  at 
his  home  in  Joliet,  June  10,  1886. 

Peter  Adams — Came  to  Joliet  in  1839 ;  died 
at  Galesburg,  Aug.  13,  1886. 

Calneh  Zarley — Born  in  Pike  county,  Ohio 
April  31,  1822,  came  to  Joliet  in  1831;  died  at 
his  home  here  Aug.  20,  1886. 


OFFICERS   ELECTED  FOR  INSUING  YEAR. 

President — Dr.  Daggett. 

Vice  Presidents — Curtis  Morse,  Homer; 
Amos  Paxton,  Lockport;  Thos.  J.  Sprague, 
Dupage;  Robt.  Clow,  Wheatland;  T.  J.  Lang 
Plainfield;  D.  C.  Searles,  Troy;  Chas  Smith, 
Chanahon;  John  Kelly,  Wesley ;  Selah  Morey, 
Florence;  Jabez  Harvey,  Wilton;  R.  J.  Boy- 
lan,  Jackson ;Clark  Baker,  Manhattan;  H.  H. 
Stassen,  Green  Garden;  Frad  Wilkie,  Wash- 
ington; A.  P.  Lilly,  Crete;  D.  L.  Christian, 
Peotone ;  Levi  Doty,  Frankfort ;  Thos  Doig, 
New  Lenox. 

Executive  Commitee — Alex.  McIntosh,Geo. 
Munroe.  Clay  Casseday,  W.  H.  Zarley,  Ed- 
mund Wixcox,  Joliet. 

Secretary  and  Treasurer — B.  F.  Allen. 

Captain— S.  R.  Beggs. 

The  poem  of  the  occasion  was  grand.  It 
was  read  and  dedicated  to 


THE  OLD  SETTLERS. 


[By  Capt.  Egbert  Phelps,  the  Poet    Laureate 
of  the  Old  settlers.] 

Once  in  a  while  in  this  journey  of  life. 
In  the  midst  of  its  care  and  its  trouble  and 

The  weary  heart   turns  from  its  turbulent 
strife 
Back  to  the  record  of  sunnier  years— 
Ba^k  to  the  halcyon  days  of  its  youth. 
When  the  earth-life  was  built  upon  castles 
in  air, 
Too  bright  for  the  after-time  record  of  truth. 


( 11 ) 


Freighted  with  hope  visions   brilliant    and 
rare , 
Finding  rest  from  the  '  present   in   memories 
dear 
Of  the  joy-lighted  skies  of  that  long  van- 
ished prime  — 
Of  the  happiness  craved  on    each   slow    pass- 
ing year, 
Redeeming  the  griefs  of  all  earlier  time. 

Once  in  a  while  in  this  journey  of  lite 

The  heart  of  a  green  and  a  happy  old  age, 
Freed  from  all  care  and  all  trouble  and  strife. 
Halts  and  turns  back   to   the   tear   blolted 
page 
Where   the   record   of  sorrow   is   graven  too 
deep 
For  the  finger  of  time  to  obliterate  all— 
The  memories  holy  that  never  can  sleep, — 
Or   lilt    from   each   coffin  its  time-honored 
pall ; 
And  finds  in  each  grief  of  the   soul-hallowed 
past. 
An  influence  holy  that  chastens  the  bliss 
By  the  gold  of  life's  sunset  o'er  later  years 
cast. 
Rounding  up  those  dark  days  with  the  glory 
of  this. 

For  while  lite  is  a  drama  but   rendered   com- 
plete 
When  its  lights  and   its   shadows   together 
are  blent— 
The  miry  paths  trodden  by  toil  burdened  feet 
With  the  flowers  whose  hues  to  the  wayside 
are  lent; 
Each  has  its  own  measure  of  sorrow    and  joy 
To  round  up  its  tale  as  the  years  cir  le  by— 
Evew    rose  with  its  thorns— every  bliss  with 
alloy 
To    test   its  true  strength  for  the  record  on 
on  high. 


Gazing  back  waul  half  a  cycle 

Through  the  long,  care-burdened  years- 
Through   the  shining,     flower  strewn   path- 
ways- 
Through  the  mists  of  blinding  tears— 
O'r  the  graves  that  time  has  sprinkled 

By  the  wayside  thick  and  fast— 
O'r  the  towering  spires  and  temples 

Ota  faithful,  earnest  past- 
How  the  heart  of  age  must  triumph 

In  the  glory  of  to-day. 
Wrought  by  its  untiring  effort, 

Plodding  each  his  lonely  way, 
Laboring  with  an  earnest  purpose, 

Not  alone  for  present  weal, 
But  fo<*  all  the  future  ages, 

Working  out,  with  eager  zeal, 
God's  own  purposa,  even  blindly, 

Hidden  though  that  purpose,  were, 
Now,  that  Time  the  veil  has  lifted. 

Unmistakable  and  clear. 

Where  the  lonely  prairie  slumbered 

In  its  solitude  sublime- 
In  its  silence  all  nnbroken 

Through  the  dreary  lapse  of  time, 
Now  a  lordly  city  gathers 

To  its  broad  and  widening  fold 
Thousands  of  untiring  workers 

Turning  earth's  dull  dross  to  gold 
Hum  of  trafic— clank  of  engine- 
Buzz  and  whir  of  tireless  wheel, 
Sing  the  hymn  ot  labor  worship 

And  life's  glorious  end  reveai 
Clustering  hamlets  dot  the  landscape, 

Centers  all  of  busy  life, 
Happy  homes  of  peace  and  plenty, 

Guerden  of  the  olden  strife: 
Thurtering  steam  cars  bearing  onward 

untold  wealth  from  shore  to  shore, 
Teaming  product  of  the  prairies 

Fruitless  in  the  days  of  yore; 
Slender  *\  ires  whose  viewless  lightning, 


Flashed  thought  from  distant  lands, 
Bind  the  whole  broad  earth  together 

in  communicative  bands  — 
The:e  the  product  of  the  life-work 

Of  the  throngs  assembled  here 
To  review  the  titty  cycles 

Of  a  life  grown  old  and  sear, 
Well  may  every  humble  toiler 

Glory  in  a  work  so  grand 
Wrought  with  other  tireless  workers, 

By  his  own  untuto.ed  hand. 

But  in  glancing  o'r  the  pathways 

Of  the  bygone  fruitful  years, 
How  the  tombstones  meet  the  vision 

With  their  ta'e  of  scalding  tears! 
Ah!  the  grave-*  that  mark  the  wayside  - 

Milestones  on  the  path  of  life — 
Of  the  brothers  that  have  fallen 

By  your  side  amidst  the  strife! 
How  their  holy  memories  mingle 

With  our joyance  of  to-day, 
Chastening  all  the  light  and  glory 

Of  the  old-time  eager  fray  I 
Theirs  the  part  with  you  to  battle 

Bravely  through  the  strife  sublime, 
But  alas  for  them  no  triumph 

Crowned  the  glorious  after-time. 
All  too  soon  they  fell  beside  you 

Ere  theeiger,  hopeful  eye 
Caught  the  gleam  of  coming  glory 

In  the  future's  clouded  sky. 
But  perhaps  in  yonder  Aidenn— 

From  their  brighter,  blissful  sphere 
Thev  may  still  hold  sweet  communion 

With  tne  happy  circle  here. 
Waiting  for  that  blest  reunion 

when  the  love  of  yore  shall  meet- 
All  the  old  ties  reunited 

And  the  circle  all  complete. 


Youth  it  is  cheery 
Age  is  not  dreary 
When  time  but  makes  brighter   life's  holiest 
ties; 
Youth  is  not  cheery 
/■  ge  it  is  dreary 
When  grief  bars  the  light  from  the  tear-laden 
eyes. 

Time  it  is  fleeting 

Brief  is  the  greeting 
Ol  souls  that  too  soon  from  each  other   must 
part; 

Sorrow  and  pleasure 

Fill  up  life's  measure 
Dividing  the  throne  in  humanity's  heart. 

Never  the  Burden 
Borne  to  life's  guerden 

Is  weightier  laid  than  the  spirit  can  bear- 
Never  the  Lightness 
Born  of  life's  brightness 

Comes  to  the  happy  heart  more  than  its  share 

So  in  rotation 

God's  compensation 
Comes  to  each  sorrow  and  j  oy  of  the  soul, 

Chastening  each  pleasure, 

Lightening  grief's  measure 
Shaping  each  life  for  eternity's  goal. 

Toil  is  the  portal 

To  the  immortal 
Both   of  this    earth  and   ot  .yonder    bright 
heaven. 

Nohing  worth  living  for 

Comes  without  striving  for 
Just  as  each  labors  his  crown  will    be   given. 

Happy,  reposing. 

Near  to  life's  closing, 
On  the  green  laurels  of  victory  won, 

Hcwhrwp  life-story 

Te'lsof  the.  glory 
That  gleams  in  the  record  of  labor  well  dov:  e. 


UtiKAKY 

diversity  of  numm 


(  12  ) 


This  be  your  portion, 

Reward  of  devotion 
To  duty  well  done  in  the  toil  burdened  past. 

Through  pathways  of  fllowt  rs 

May  life's  closing  hours 
Glide  peacefully,  happily  on  to  the  last. 

And  when  the  Father 

Hi-<  harvests  shall  gather 

May  no  one  be  misssd  from  these  brotherly 

bands, 

Hut  all  hold  communion 

In  blessed  reunion 
In  that  beautiful  city  not  builded  with  hands 


The  president,  Mr.  George  H.  Woodruff,  re- 
ceived the  following  regrets  and  beautiful 
tributes  supplementary  thereto : 

"Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  Aug.  23,  1886. — 
Friend  Woodruff: — I  send  you  herewith  a 
little  poetical  greeting  for  old  Will's  Old  Set- 
tler's reunion,  wishing  yourself  and  the  grand 
old  society  long  life,  abundant  happiness,  and 
unalloyed  enjoyment  at  your  comimg  meet 
ing.     I  remain  most  sincerely  yours, 

Albert  F.  Kercheval. 

the  settlers  of  old  will. 

In  tender  thought  though  far  away. 
Where  meet  tbe  hoary  heads  and  gray 
Old  patriarchs  of  the  olden  time, 
Our  nearts  ate  with  you  all,  to-day. 

From  out  the  mist  of  gathering  years, 
And  intermingling  smiles  and  tears, 
We  send  to-day  from  western  shores 
A  greeting  to  thy  Pioneeis. 

We  see  thy  prairies  wide  outspread 
Beneath  thy  smiling  skie=<  o'erhead, 
As  when  I  heir  virgin,  Howry  wastes 
First  telt  the  impress  of  your  tread. 

We  see  once  more  old  Hickory's  gleam, 
The  bluebells  flush  by  i  ond  and  stream 
As  in  our  boyhood's  early  prime, 
When  life  was  all  a  golden  dream. 


The  shimmer  of  thy  fair  DesPlaines, 
Like  fairy  magic  that  enchains 
The  soul  forever  in  Its  thrall, 
A  glorious  memory  yet  remains. 

We  see  thy  smiling  Kankakee 
Lifce  some  sweet  maiden  bi  i°;ht  and  f i  ee 
When  fancy  weaves  her  tenderest  spell, 
Glide  onward  toward  the  Southern  sea. 

In  wkatsoever  far  retreat 
May  rest  their  weary,  way-worn  feet, 
Thy  children  yet  with  filial  love 
Cling  to  thy  memories  pure  and  sweet. 

And  whereso'er  their  pulses  thrill 
In  distant  lands  find  countries  still, 
With  tenderest  thought  of  thee   and  thine. 
They  think  of  thee  to  day,  "Old  Will." 

Albert  F.  Kercheval. 


San  Francisco,  Cal.,  Aug.  25,  1886— Will 
county  pioneers  of  1836,  all  hail!  A  thirty - 
sixer  who  cannot  join  with  you  in  your  semi- 
centennial, pauses  a  moment  by  the  western 
sea  to  drop  a  tear  for  those  whose  once  famil- 
iar forms  are  growing  dim  in  memory ;  to 
send  a  word  of  congratulation  to  those  of  the 
earlier  settlers  still  living  near  his  boyhood's 
home,  and  to  lift  a  prayer  for  the  All  Father's 
guiding  love  as  the  evening  shades  gather 
about  us  all.  How  swift  the  flight  of  fifty 
years  as  seen  in  retrospect!  How  stupendous 
the  results  as  written  in  undying  history ! 
How  different  the  Will  county,  the  Illinois, 
the  America,  the  civilization,  the  Christian- 
ity, of  1S36  and  1886!  Each  earnest  purpose, 
each  heroic  action,  and  each  self-sacrifice  has 
contributed  its  share  to  the  grand  result. 
With  a  firm  loyalty  to  truth,  with  love  for 
all,  with  trusting  hope  in  the  better  days  to 
come,  we  pass  on  and  leave  our  places  for  the 
decendants  of  the  "36ers." 

James  M.  Haven. 


